Visualizing Your Privacy on Facebook

Privacy on Facebook has been a hot topic of discussion in tech circles for a few months now, but it can be difficult for users to understand what information is going where and how policies have changed.

That’s where an interactive graphic by user-interface developer Matt McKeon comes in handy. On Mr. McKeon’s site, users can click from year to year to see how Facebook’s default settings have made different types of information available to an ever wider circle of people.

Facebook representatives have said repeatedly that the site values its users’ privacy and makes it easy for them to opt out of certain features. Executives also have said that they believe the Internet is becoming more open in general and that users are becoming more engaged online as a result of Facebook’s changes.

Mr. McKeon writes on the site that “Facebook is a great service” but that “the default privacy settings for a Facebook user’s personal information have become more and more permissive.” He says his graphic is based on his own interpretation of Facebook’s terms of service over time; links to Web archives of those policies are available in a post from the Electronic Frontier Foundation, which has been vocal in criticizing the policy changes. From those policies, it’s clear that Facebook has moved ever more toward openness over time — but Mr. McKeon’s graphic makes the story easier to see.